Explore cancer research and see where every number comes from.
Cancer Insight is a free, independent research explorer. Search a cancer type to read recent papers, follow registered clinical trials, see where research coverage is thinner than across oncology, and compare research with the burden of the disease. Every count links to the search that reproduces it.
Educational use only. Cancer Insight does not give medical advice or recommend treatments.
Pancreatic cancer compared with oncology overall
Share of PubMed records in each category, as a multiple of the oncology-wide share
Six ways into cancer research
Each tool answers a different question, and none of them ranks treatments.
Read the newest research
Recent papers for a cancer type, labelled by evidence type, with structured abstracts, free full-text links, retraction warnings and a note on why each record is included.
Follow clinical trials
Registered trials by phase, status, sponsor and country — and how many completed trials still have no results posted.
Map research coverage
The Research Gap Atlas shows which study designs and themes make up a smaller share of a cancer’s literature than of oncology overall.
See every cancer at once
All cancers in the catalogue against every atlas measure, on one colour-coded map.
Compare research with burden
Each cancer’s share of recent research against its share of the world’s cancer deaths and new cases in 2024.
Cancer profiles
One page per cancer: research, trials, coverage, burden and retractions.
Where the numbers come from
The same four steps sit behind every page, and the methodology documents each rule.
Your search becomes an exact query
Cancer types map to MeSH headings and title/abstract phrases for PubMed, and to a condition search on ClinicalTrials.gov. The query is shown wherever results appear.
Records are retrieved
PubMed supplies counts and records; ClinicalTrials.gov supplies trial registrations; the Global Cancer Observatory supplies burden figures; a research feed adds the newest papers.
Each record is checked
Relevance, duplicate and retraction checks run on every paper. Evidence types come from PubMed publication types.
Every count links back
Select a number to run the identical search and check it yourself, or download the data.
What Cancer Insight can and cannot tell you
It can show
- what has been published on a cancer, and where;
- which trials are registered, and how many have posted results;
- how the literature divides across study designs and research themes;
- the exact search behind every number.
It cannot show
- which treatment works best, or is right for a person;
- whether a thinly covered theme is a real or important research gap;
- the quality or certainty of an individual study;
- anything about a specific diagnosis.
Open data
Every table can be downloaded, and every analysis is available as JSON or CSV from a stable address — free to reuse with attribution.